Thursday, June 24, 2010

Martin McGartland Says; Help the RUC Special Branch heroes.

=========================================================================================================================Marty Says; Help the RUC Special Branch heroes.

These former RUC special Branch officers give their all and they must be compensated for their injuries. I know, as someone who worked with SB officers between 1987-1991, what these very brave men and women went through. It was constant danger 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days of the year. Why did they do it? To protect the people of Ireland, north and south, from the bombers and killers of the IRA, INLA, IPLO, UVF, UFF etc. The brave men and women of the RUC special branch put their own lives in grat danger. They were expected to go into the loins den, to meet killers and to get the information from spies, informers and agents, the information that would be used to save life. When the SB officers whent out they Never knew if they would ever return from such meetings. The SB officers put themselves in great danger daily, day in day out. The information those SB officers obtained resulted in the lives, of a very large numbers of people, who would otherwise have been murdered, being saved. We should be thanking the brave SB officers and ensuring they get the compensation needed for there injuries and the care they require. If there is anything, anything at all that I can do to help these brave men and women just get in touch, via facebook, bebo, friend of friend etc.

Killers who acted as informers could be publicly named as part of a legal attempt by ex-RUC officers to show the pressures they worked under, it has been claimed.

RUC stress case 'could name' informers

Killers who acted as informers could be publicly named as part of a legal attempt by ex-RUC officers to show the pressures they worked under.

Thursday, 24 June 2010

As the first 10 cases to be heard in a renewed post-traumatic stress lawsuit were identified, the most senior retired policeman involved in the action warned of the lengths they were prepared to go.

The former deputy head of CID in Belfast, who requested anonymity for security reasons, said: "The guys are saying they will be relying on facts and situations which they were placed in, vis-a-vis looking after killers and murderers who were also known informants.

"Effectively a lot of them are going to use these type of scenarios to support their illness. They were subjected to dealing with this type of thing on a daily basis.

"That's all going to be opened up in court, the names of informants and what the police were subjected to."

Detailing his own experiences, the ex-detective said he was seriously injured by an IRA bomb in Donegall Street, Belfast in the early 1970s and narrowly survived when INLA men opened fire on him in Newry, Co Down in 1987.

He is among scores of former officers planning to represent themselves as personal litigants after losing a class action against the Chief Constable.

Up to 5,500 officers had sued over how they were treated for anxiety and depression suffered during decades of exposure to violence.

They believed they secured victory two years ago when a judge ruled there had been systematic failures within the force.

But any hopes of a multi-million pound compensation award were then dealt a crushing blow when 10 test cases were rejected.

A challenge to the verdicts brought on generic issues and five of the lead cases was subsequently dismissed by the Court of Appeal last June.

With uncertainty surrounding the intention of thousands of those officers involved in the original case, a High Court judge is now planning to set them a deadline for confirming whether or not they want to continue.

Lawyers for the Chief Constable have already ruled out any further mediation and warned that any plaintiffs who proceed and lose their case will each face legal bills of at least 50,000.

Mr Justice Gillen is expected to allow time for any applications to strike-out cases once the deadline passes.

In the meantime he also confirmed today that the first batch of 10 actions have been selected.

"Their cases have been chosen at random and it is intended to process their cases," he said.

The judge added: "I have to protect the Article 6 right to a fair trial, but at the same time I have to recognise that a fair trial depends on the circumstances.

"The circumstances here are that if there is a very large number of cases I cannot allow them to be delayed. Justice delayed is often justice denied."

After a further review hearing was set for September one of those in the first 10 cases claimed they could lead to major revelations.

The retired Special Branch officer, who also requested anonymity, said outside court: "This could end up bigger than Bloody Sunday when all the cans of worms are opened."